<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Empire of dirt by justlukahere</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28906083">Empire of dirt</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/justlukahere/pseuds/justlukahere'>justlukahere</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Among Us (Video Game), Banana Bus Squad, Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Among Us (Video Game) Setting, Canonical Character Death, I Don't Even Know, I Tried, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Light Angst, One Shot, Rated For Violence, Rated T for swearing, Swearing, based on that episode where squirrel could see kyle, could be read as romantic but doesn't have to, delirious and sykkuno are just mentioned, no beta we die like men, the boytoy might be corpse lol</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:55:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,541</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28906083</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/justlukahere/pseuds/justlukahere</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Right now Squirrel is going insane. He can swear that Kyle just stood there in reactor next to his bleeding body, just staring at it. But that’s impossible because Squirrel himself just buried his knife deep inside Kyle’s insides. </p><p> </p><p>"SWITCHAROO MOD" episode but more dramatic</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Squirrel/Kyle, if you squint</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Empire of dirt</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>this is my first work ever so don't go too hard on me<br/>also i'm sorry for any mistakes i'm not primarily english speaker and it's also like 4am lol<br/>I WILL DELETE THIS THE SECOND CC SAY THEY ARE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH THIS</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He knows he shouldn't have, but Squirrel stands right next to Kyle’s body for a few too many seconds to brush it off as a brief post-kill high. He doesn't exactly know what just happened. He wants to stay there for a little bit longer and try to understand but he can hear Cartoonz’s voice getting dangerously close so instead he climbs into the closest vent and gets the hell out of there.</p><p>After jumping out from the vent in top reactor he makes a run for it, praying to gods that Cartoonz won’t find the body too soon, that he’ll have the chance to find some alibi before having to explain himself in front of the whole crew and his assigned murder-buddy. Squirrel thinks that Ohmwrecker has been assigned to him to make sure he doesn’t fail again. He also thinks that Ohm doesn’t like it very much, being stuck with Squirrel. But that’s okay, Squirrel doesn't like being stuck with him either.</p><p>For him Ohmwrecker is too quiet and too loud at the same time, expressing his opinions and blaming everyone during meetings but not speaking to his partner outside of the restricted time. Throwing accusations and votes around like candy. But Squirrel thinks it must be some kind of strategy, since Ohm seems to complete most of his missions with only slight problems. Either way, Squirrel prefers to work with Delirious.</p><p>But for now he has bigger problems than not having his favourite partner. Because right now Squirrel is going insane. He can swear that Kyle just stood there in reactor, next to his bleeding body, just staring at it. But that’s impossible because Squirrel himself buried his knife deep inside Kyle’s insides.</p><p>“That’s fucking crazy,” he murmurs to himself while speedwalking through the cafeteria. “It’s just a fucking trick of light. Yeah, I’m just stressed out.”</p><p>But there’s another thing that’s not right, he can still hear Cartoonz’s voice in his ear. <em>Fuck, the comms must be fucking broken again</em>, he thinks as he pokes the controls that are mounted on his left arm. Thankfully only his private comms are malfunctioning so he doesn’t have to go to communications and pretend he can’t hear anyone. He fixes it quickly and feels his body being whisked away as he’s walking through storage.</p><p>Squirrel knows that the Swap is meant as some sort of protection for crewmates but just like everyone he also knows that it only makes the killer harder to identify. It also made everyone deeply uncomfortable,</p><p>He lands outside communications with Rilla and Chrono but before he can hear out what Rilla wants to tell him the sirens come to life and he sees the red lights. That means somebody found Kyle’s body. Fuck. He meets Chrono’s worried glance and shrugs in response as they start walking to the cafeteria to meet everyone else at the button table.</p><p>There’s something wrong with the way Kyle’s already brownish blood stands out on Ghoostie’s bright pink suit. Squirrel barely listens to the other men at the table while he analyzes them all. Bryce seems to jump right into the detective role, trying to pretend that the death of two other crewmates hadn’t bothered him at all. Ohm still has his helmet on but Squirrel can imagine his impassive face as he joins the hunt. Ghoostie doesn’t look as shaken as a man that had found his friend dead should look like, he just looks resigned. Cartoonz is the most expressive of them all. He bangs his fist on the table and grabs his hair as he tries to remember who else was with him in the electrical.The rest didn’t care to take off their helmets.</p><p>Squirrel doesn't pay them as much attention as he probably should’ve but he can’t help staring at the unscathed brown suit and tousled hair as the dead man leans on the table. Kyle looks perfectly fine as if nothing ever happened. There is no knife wound in his abdomen, no shock of betrayal painted on his face, just casual giddyness as if he just shared a joke with a good friend.</p><p>It seems as if he wasn’t moved by his own death. Perhaps he’s known he will never see his home planet again ever since the ship started malfunctioning. Squirrel can’t imagine being in crewmates’ situation, not knowing who’s the enemy, just running around the ship trying to repair it faster than the agents can kill them. Perhaps it’s somehow poetic, even though Squirrel would never know. He never cared for poetry.</p><p>But Kyle did. Didn’t he? Squirrel could faintly remember a small worn out book hidden behind Brown’s bed, mirroring the place where Squirrel has hidden his knife. He could remember quiet turning of the pages at night as he pretended to sleep in the neighboring bed and he remembers asking about it when he was too bored to just lay on the bed. Yeah, Kyle cared for poetry.</p><p>Not like it matters anymore.</p><p>Squirrel stops staring as he hears faint countdown in his ears, signaling the end of voting time so he finally pulls out his tablet. He can hear Cartoonz trying to explain himself but he has no idea what’s exactly going on so he just skips the vote and goes through the list of names. To his surprise he can see Rose’s name crossed out just next to Kyle’s. He’s sure he didn't hear her name even once during the whole meeting.</p><p>As the countdown stops, Cartoonz stops too which makes Squirrel crack a small smile. He doesn’t like the thought of having to kill Cartoonz, the guy is actually pretty funny. According to the Council that’s exactly Squirrel’s problem - he gets attached to the crewmates and has problems with getting rid of them. At least he’s not as bad as Sykkuno was, running off to space with his little toyboy.</p><p>The results come in - Cartoonz gets one vote, Rocky two (Squirrel has no idea why, has he even been questioned?) and the rest skipped the vote. It wasn’t really that surprising, the first vote was usually skipped unless there was some hard evidence. The fun started much later when crewmates were too paranoid and too sleep deprived for their own good. That’s also when the job started getting even more stressful but Squirrel doubts it will come as far this time. These humans are already twitchy and throwing accusations, the job should be done in less than three meetings.</p><p>Squirrel gets up from the bench and once again gets that feeling of his body being stolen from where he stood. At this point he knows better than trying to talk during the experience so he waits a few seconds before cursing. After examining his orange suit once again for traces of blood he walks out of the electrical and turns to the storage trying not to walk into floating boxes. He absolutely hates the Swap.</p><p>He hates Ohmwrecker even more as the doors shut right into his face. He calls out for Kyle hoping that the ghost could hear him. He needed to talk to him as soon as possible and explain himself or beg for forgiveness. Fuck, he can’t start crying in the middle of storage like some fucking idiot. Explaining it to the crewmates would be easy as hell, he could just blame the death of his roommate. Explaining himself to Ohmwrecker and later the Council would be so much harder.</p><p>“Squirrel?” it sounds like Chrono’s voice on the other side of the door. “I think he just called me Kyle.”</p><p>“Fuck,” Squirrel tries to dry his tears but he just hits the front glass of his helmet.”Fuck.”</p><p>“Squirrel?” Cartoonz yells and bangs at the door, “I’m gonna slap the shit out of you!”</p><p>Squirrel recognizes it as what it is - a brief distraction from the grim reality. He smiles through unshed tears and yells back, “No, I’ll slap the shit out of you!”</p><p>As the doors open he sees them in their little colorful suits. That was also a protection detail, even though developed long before the Swap. Squirrel assumes that Chrono got the luckiest of them all as the black suit nicely blends in with badly lit corridors. Alright, maybe it wasn’t so lucky for an innocent crewmate.</p><p>As he joins the two of them in a small corridor next to the admin room he’s laughing for the first time since he shoved his blade between Kyle’s ribs. Chrono takes his turn in yelling about slapping and they stand there just laughing, forgetting for a moment about the tragic situation that they are in. Not for the first time Squirrel starts wondering what would it be like, being one of the crewmates. Would he actually have friends with whom he could joke around?</p><p>Maybe Kyle could be his friend in that other life. Maybe they could spend more nights discussing poetry or maybe just talk about their homes and families or other hobbies. Maybe Squirrel could actually sleep in the same room and eat meals at the same table in the cafeteria. Maybe he could even -</p><p>Wait, Kyle! Squirrel can see him right in the corner of his vision walking around near the cafeteria vent but before he can run in that direction, he’s once again being Swapped.</p><p>The ground sways under his feet as he immediately starts running to the place he’s seen him last through navigation. He doesn't want to see anyone in case he has to stop and Kyle disappears from the area or somebody hears the inevitable crack in his voice. The corridors are empty until he runs into Rocky, who’s exiting navigation. Squirrel doesn’t even think about it, he just says 'hi' and promptly slashes his throat, killing him instantly. He wants to get to the vent before the next Swap steals him away.</p><p>He almost cries from happiness when he sees the brown space suit. Just this morning he and Cartoonz made fun of it, comparing its color to shit but now all Squirrel wants is to be able to see it thrown carelessly on the floor of their shared room just one more time. He knows it’s not possible, that it was never possible so he just lets himself enjoy whisper-yelling his roommate’s name for probably the last time.<br/>
The lights are turned off so he doesn’t bother with trying to pretend not to see dead people. “Hey, Kyle. I can see you.”</p><p>Kyle stares at him as if he couldn’t understand his words but he still walks after Squirrel to the top of the cafeteria where no one should disturb them. “I don't understand. You can see me?”</p><p>“Yeah but I can’t-”</p><p>“Why the fuck did you kill me Squirrel?” the man yells, cutting Squirrel off. “I thought we were friends, I thought we had the same goal!”</p><p>Squirrel doesn’t respond and lets Kyle yell for a while. He backs to the wall and slides down, sitting on the floor. All of this was a nightmare. Never before has he stayed on a ship this long before launching the mission into action. Maybe that was the test, letting him bond with the crew and then making him kill all of them as a punishment. That’s cruel but Squirrel wouldn’t bet against the Council actually going with it. He stares at Kyle's face and feels hot tears streaming down his face. Fuck, he always knew he wasn’t strong enogh to be one of the agents. Squirrel pulls off his ugly orange helmet and lays it on the floor between his feet.</p><p>Kyle stops yelling at him and just looks. Squirrel realizes he must look like a mess, eyes puffy from crying and his hair unbrushed. He looks up at Kyle waiting for him to continue but the other man just sighs and sits next to him. Finally, he whispers, “I thought you were one of us.”</p><p>Squirrel just gives a little laugh. “I’d give everything to be one of you,” he whispers back as if it even matters. He’s what he is and Kyle is dead. “And I killed you.”</p><p>“Yeah, what the fuck was up with that.”</p><p>“Kyle. Kyle, there was literally no way for me not to kill you sooner or later.” Squirrel swallows a sob. “There’s no way for us not to kill everyone on this ship. It’s me or you.”</p><p>“You could just go back to Earth with us or just tell us what’s going on and we’d help you-”</p><p>“They would just find me. And then they’d kill everyone I ever cared about,” he closes his eyes and pretends he’s able to sleep, to just leave his worries behind for a night. “And do you honestly think that me saying I’m Other would work out? No matter how much we like each other, Cartoonz would vote me out in a second. The same with Bryce and Rilla. They are all always a bit too happy with those ‘shoot a squirrel’ jokes. Even Ohm would let me go with the rising tide.”</p><p>“I wouldn't let them.”</p><p>“Then they’d just vote you too, you fucker.”</p><p>Kyle chuckles and the red lights light up the room. The sirens sound awfully loud in the eerie silence of their ship. Squirrel rises and goes to his assigned seat. He figures if anyone asks why he’s there so fast he’ll just fake cafeteria wires.</p><p>As the others enter Squirrel can see that it’s now Bryce’s cyan suit colored with red. For a second he wonders how is Ohm working on this job. Is he killing one person for every one Squirrel has? That’s actually better than having to kill all of his… friends?</p><p>“Rocky is the killer,” Cartoonz sings as he walks into the room with his helmet under his arm which is actually against the regulations. Normally it would be unacceptable but they all laugh except for Bryce who looks with haunted eyes at Toonz. So that’s the body he found, fuck. He might need alibi other than wires, they are a little bit too close for his liking.</p><p>Meanwhile, Cartoonz takes out his tablet to see who the victim was and as he reads he visibly pales. “Rocky is dead,” he sings in a much quieter voice.</p><p>Squirrel feigns surprise, almost ripping his pocket reaching for his own tablet. He puts his helmet on his lap and curls around it, trying not to show emotions in front of Ohm. He can feel his eyes on him just like he can feel Kyle’s presence right behind his back.</p><p>Once again he let’s them fight it out, listening only to Kyle’s comments and jokes. When it comes back to voting he actually knows that the vote is split between Cartoonz and Bryce so he just votes for whoever. He doesn’t care who’s out as long as it’s not him and or his partner.</p><p>In a funny (and concerning, Squirrel notes) turn of events the votes are split evenly. No one gets taken out even if everyone has a distrustful look in their eyes, fingers itching to push that button and get someone out, feel a little safer.</p><p>He turns to look at Kyle to signal him that he wants to continue their talk but suddenly he’s in lower engine and there’s no Kyle next to him. Squirrel just sighs and puts on his helmet. He considers going to fix lights, that would make him so much safer in the eyes of crewmates but decides against it and goes up to meet Kyle again. On his way there he sees Bryce who starts a small conversation about not doing the lights.</p><p>They arrive at the button table, where Cartoonz welcomes them by yelling about the lights. <em>He hasn’t even gotten up</em>, Squirrel notices, <em>he probably just scooted over next to Rilla</em>. He joins in yelling and passes them looking for Kyle but he can’t see him anywhere.</p><p>Then the power comes to life and Rilla smashes the button faster than Squirrel thought was humanly possible. Chrono runs to the table just before the sirens come to life. Those are slightly different than the body ones. They are a bit more rushed and usually require running into the cafeteria.</p><p>As if called, Ohm and Ghoostie run into the room, breathless from running in full suits. At least Ghoostie is, really. But Squirrel has to admit, Ohm is a perfect actor.</p><p>And so the argument starts again, Bryce and Cartoonz clawing at each other's throats. This time Rilla joins in, also blaming Cartoonz. Ghoostie has been proven innocent so Ohm and Squirrel just let the rest fight. It’s kind of terrifying to watch, three friends trying to send the others into space without a suit. Squirrel vividly remembers Rilla and Toonz sharing crude jokes, Toonz and Bryce in the navigation room having a friendly banter over the fastest way to Earth, and all of them on a couch draped in a blanket Rose has put on them when they fell asleep during movie night.</p><p>It makes him think of Kyle and the words he said. ‘It’s you or me’. And Squirrel knows they are true. He knows they’ve been true longer than Kyle’s been alive and longer than Squirrel will ever be. And so he has to choose between himself and the ghost of Kyle.</p><p>He did promise Delirious to always pick himself first.</p><p>Who would’ve thought that by the end of the night he’ll have to kill his friend twice.</p><p>It’s his time to vote so he just picks a random person and votes, but that doesn’t save Cartoonz from being voted out. He has tears falling down his face and he’s grateful that he didn’t take his helmet off this round. He watches as Rilla punches Toonz in the gut while Bryce is taking off his helmet. Squirrel assumes that it’s better than sending him in full gear, giving him time alone in space so he can slowly suffocate. He doesn’t speak as Rilla and Ohm take unconscious Toonz to the vault while Bryce is manning the control panel. He just stares at his friend floating away.</p><p>He gets up from the table and sees Kyle standing in the corner, looking through the glass. He doesn’t really want to look suspicious but he walks up to the glass and asks quietly, “Is he here too?”.</p><p>Kyle doesn’t even look at him when he shakes his head. “I think it’s because he didn’t die on the ship. Just outside of it.”</p><p>They stand there in silence and for the first time Squirrel is grateful for the Swap. He walks up to Ohm and joins him on his silent walk. The sound of button alarm surprises them both but they both take off running into the cafeteria. To Squirrel’s surprise it was Bryce, who was standing over the button, his face pale and bags under his eyes. His helmet is off, laying on the table. He looks like a broken man.</p><p>He doesn’t look at them when they enter, he just asks quietly, “Are- are we certain it was Cartoonz?”</p><p>Squirrel feels like he’s about to laugh. So much pushing for a vote just to doubt yourself as soon as the body leaves your sight.</p><p>“Motherfucker, we pushed it!” yells Rilla, his face suddenly red. “We have to be or we just killed a crewmate which makes us evil!”</p><p>Squirrel looks at him surprised. Out of all things? Don’t they care that their unsure vote cost Toonzie his life? Is that truly the only thing the humans care for? He feels a spark of old anger that has died in him over the time he spent with humans. But Squirrel can only assume that deep down, all of them are the same.</p><p>“I’m telling you, it’s Squirrel,” Bryce says but it’s hearable in his voice that he also doesn’t know shit about who it might be.</p><p>“What the fuck Bryce?”</p><p>So now it’s him against Bryce but he’s sure he can win this argument. Bryce is standing on too shaky ground and with Ohm on his side Squirrel is able to turn the tables. Now it’s his turn to control the buttons and make sure Bryce can't get out. He watches as the bright cyan suit is sucked into space.</p><p>He and Ohm take off their helmets, showing matching grins that are too wide to be human even if Squirrel’s is a bit forced. He reaches for his knife and looks at Kyle for the last time before turning his eyes on Ghoostie who looks on the verge of fainting.</p><p>“What?” Rilla yells, even more angry now. “You bastards!”</p><p>He tries to throw himself at them, maybe trying to defeat them with just his fists but Ohm gets to him first. His jaw unhings like a snake’s but Squirrel isn’t here to watch that show. He turns to Ghoostie and kicks the pink helmet away from him.</p><p>“Run.”</p><p>The oxygen sirens come to life and he watches Ghoostie pale even further before he starts running in the direction of the oxygen room.</p><p>Squirrel smiles in Kyle’s direction before he, too, starts running.</p><p>He always loved playing with his food.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>